The English government, when approached on the subject, assumed a haughty attitude, pretending total ignorance of their High Mightinesses having any colonies in America, and, moreover, declaring that, as no proposal on the boundary question had been received from the English colonies in America, it would be manifestly improper to consider the matter in any wise. Subsequent attempts to settle this issue were equally unsuccessful. Nevertheless, itwas always urged by Stuyvesant that, in the absence of a regularly confirmed treaty, tin- articles of 1050 ought to be adhered to in good faith on both sides, as embracing mutual concessions for the sake of neighborly understanding, which were carefully formulated at the time and had never been repudiated. It will be admitted by most impartial minds that this was a reasonable contention. But the Westchester tract was not the only territory in debate. English settlement had proceeded rapidly on Long Island, and the onward movement of citizens of Connecticut in that quarter was quite as inconsistent with the terms of the articles of 1050 as was the presence of an organized English colony in the Vredeland. Thus whatever course might be suggested by fairness respecting the ultimate English attitude toward Westchester, that was only one local issue among others of very similar nature; and with so much at stake, the policy of self-interest required a studied resistance to the Dutch claims in general, even if that involved violation of the spirit of an agreement made in inchoate conditions which, though in a sense morally binding, had never been legally perfected. Finally, there was no conceivable risk for the English in any proceedings they chose to take, however arbitrary or unscrupulous; for in the event of an armed conflict over the boundary difficulty, the powerful New England colonies could easily crush the weak and meager Dutch settlements.